20 Minutes

So often it's the little things that stick like glue to our memory. Sometimes, it's a treasured moment simply verifying the logistics. Such 60-second dialogues will sink to the back of our memory and sit there for timely recall to touch someone else' life. However, if for some reason it fails to touch others, we can live on enjoying the thrill of such moments with dear friends. Such a friend was Gerry and a brief dialogue we had a couple of years ago was priceless. Gerry passed away a few days ago, and one of those precious moments has been surfacing of late rather regularly. At the time I was honored to be a part of Gerry's life and in assisting them with some of their transportation needs. Gerry's wife had recently had a fall and was in the hospital. Gerry called leaving a message for him to be picked up for a meeting. I returned the call, and the conversation went something like this: "Hi Gerry. You called and I understand that you want to be picked up for a meeting". At the time, due to a health issue, Gerry's words had been reduced to a very few with the word "Yes" being very frequent and more pronounced. Gerry's answer to my inquiry was "Yes". So I said to him, "I will pick you up in about 10 minutes". Gerry immediately replied, "No". By then I was completely confused and not sure if he was experiencing one of his "Yes" moments whereby he said "Yes" to nearly everything. Anyway, uncertain if he really wanted to be picked up, I asked him again if he wanted to be picked up, and Gerry replied, "Yes, 20 minutes". It was not a matter of 'whether' but a question of 'when'. It was then that I knew and understood, and my heart had also captured a memorable moment with a dear friend. 02222019ERMSMTPoSoup